Two huge stories broke today in TV Land, one which makes me literally squeal in delight and the other bums me the fuck out. Let’s break down the two biggest geek stories of the week.
Story #1: Joss Whedon returns to TV with Faith in tow
When Joss Whedon closed up shop on Angel a few years back TV fans everywhere thought they saw the last glimpse of a master at work. After the success of Buffy and Angel, Joss seemed to be ready to trade in the boob tube for the silver screen. After reviving his other short lived show Firefly on the big screen, word started circulating that Whedon had been tapped to make a big screen version of Wonder Woman. It seemed that our boy Joss had hit it big. Fast forward a couple of years and Whedon has been booted from Wonder Woman and his other film project Goners is stuck in development. That’s not to say that Joss hasn’t been busy. There’s the amazing season 8 of Buffy that he’s written and overseeing…in comic book form. There’s word that he’ll be overseeing the production of Angel season 6…in comic book form. Finally there’s the award winning writing he’s been doing on the Astonishing X-Men and Runaways…again both comics. I love comics but god damn I want to see living breathing folks saying the words the Joss pens again. Even the two episodes of The Office that he’s directed (the second airs tonight 8pm CST, NBC) leave me without Whedon satisfaction. Despite the film business moving slowly for Joss, it’s hard to believe he’d go back to TV after Fox screwed him on Firefly and The WB axed Angel rather unceremoniously. That’s why when I opened my web browser this morning I nearly fell off my chair. Joss is reuniting with Eliza Dushku (Faith the Vampire Slayer) for a new show on Fox called Dollhouse. The show has received a 7 episode commitment from Fox which is pretty unheard of. That means that instead of creating a pilot and hoping it gets picked up, this show already has life. Here’s the Fox description:
Echo (Eliza Dushku) [is] a young woman who is literally everybody's fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.
The other great news is that Joss is bringing longtime collaborator Tim Minear (Angel, Firefly, The Inside, Drive) along for the ride. Of course this is Hollywood and not everything can be great news. The upcoming Writer’s Guild strike could delay this for quite some time. Also is anyone else worried that this is happening at Fox where Whedon, Dushku and Minear have all had shows killed off before their time? Oh well, screw it, for today I just want to bask in the glory that is Joss Whedon’s return to TV. Click here for an interview with Joss and Eliza.
Story #2: Heroes: Origins, we hardly knew ya…
While one TV mastermind rises another begins their fall. Last year this time the world was a buzz with “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” Now we might have to begin to chant “Save Heroes.” In an ominous sign about the shows health, the proposed spin-off Heroes: Origins has been cancelled. The show was intended to introduce us to other super powered folk in stand alone stories that might have eventually crossed over to season 3. Even more enticing the show was going to feature celeb writers and directors and give them their crack at the Hero-verse, starting with Kevin Smith. Now we hear that it’s off the books. Of course the strike is again one reason for this but I think it has more to do with the status of Heroes itself. Not only has the fan base become dissatisfied but it’s beginning to show in the ratings. Secondly, a lot of the dissatisfaction is due to boring new characters. I’m sure the suits at NBC are a little concerned about an entire spin off of new characters. This does not bode well folks for the future, Peter, Hiro and the gang better get it together or we may be looking at the rise and fall of a franchise before it really gets going.
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